Replacing MLB

[Ruwisc]

Do you have an MLB team you hate so much that you'd rather they didn't even exist? Want to switch up the vibe of an existing team - like, "we may be Tampa, but we're not the Rays"? Need a replacement for Cleveland? Or just a fresh team identity for a fictional league? I might have something for you.



After the nice feedback I got on my previous series of expansion team candidates, I had some other ideas for concepts that happened to coincide with places that already have MLB teams. One thing led to another, and all of a sudden I have thirty all-new teams to try out in your game, one corresponding to each current MLB franchise. Some of these will be ideas you've seen before (in fact, there are two former MLB team names in the bunch), but I know a lot of them will be fresh so there's hopefully something for everybody.

The whole set of 30 teams is available to be downloaded here.

Over the next few posts I'll be profiling each team in the set, so you can get a closer look at each one, figure out what you might want, etc. There will be download links for each individual team's files there. I'll go one division at a time, starting with the AL Central.

[Ruwisc]

Replacing the AL Central

CHICAGO BLAZERS
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Why Blazers?: For the same reason as MLS' Chicago Fire, in reference to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It also just kinda sounds cool. The two Chicago teams I have are technically interchangeable, but I consider this one to be the White Sox of the pair. Includes one of the crazier jerseys of the set, with a trail that wraps around the right side of the home uniform.

Colors: red #a52c00, gold #efca00, orange #d57d1a, blue #b3ddf2







CLEVELAND LAKERS
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Why Lakers?: There are a lot of Cleveland sets out there & I felt the need to do something other than Spiders. Obviously in reference to Cleveland's position on Lake Erie, the primary logo includes a map of part of the lake and a star where the team is located.

Colors: blue #0070c0, orange #ff8838







DETROIT SPARK PLUGS
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Why Spark Plugs?: I love this name and have used it a lot over the years. It's got everything a nickname could dream of: obvious connection to the city, something for the team's players to aspire to, potential secondary meanings (which is why this team is dressed up in lightning bolts) and it looks nice on a jersey.

Colors: gray #b9b9b9, black #000000, gold #cebc1f







KANSAS CITY MOHAWKS
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Why Mohawks?: This name has nothing to do with the Native American tribe (associated with New York anyway) or the hairstyle, but rather an effort to unite Kansans and Missourians (MO + Jayhawks). This was originally chosen as the name of Kansas City's NHL team many years ago, but it was changed when the Chicago Black Hawks objected, and the team was named the Scouts instead. (You now know them as the New Jersey Devils.) This is one team that took clear inspiration from an existing MLB team, in this case the Twins.

Colors: red #c11e40, navy #041f52







MINNESOTA PINES
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Why Pines?: The cap logo predates the name of this team - the combination of two trees into an M shape is irresistible. It was once called the Minneapolis Loggers and I only changed it recently. (You can change the name of the team too, if you like - if you do, the jersey font is called Black Jack Script and it's free for personal use on dafont dot com.)

Colors: green #217844, brown #785621

[Ruwisc]

Replacing the NL East

ATLANTA FIREBIRDS
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Why Firebirds?: Famously torched during Sherman's march to the sea in the Civil War, Atlanta later adopted the phoenix as a symbol of its rebirth. Naming the team the Phoenix is off the table because Arizona is a thing, so Firebirds it is.

Colors: red #9c120b, #2e0a03, gold #db9d1a







BROOKLYN KINGS
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Why Kings?: That's right, not New York at all! This one requires a little extra setup to be extra-realistic, since you might have to move them out of Citi Field. Brooklyn gets its team back, so named because the borough of Brooklyn is coterminous with Kings County NY.

Colors: navy #212958, gold #f7ba2c







MIAMI WAVES
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Why Waves?: The sea, the sea! There's not a real deep meaning behind this one, just a chance to get out from under all that Marlins black.

Colors: teal #1ba2c7, #0e5164







PHILADELPHIA KEYSTONES
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Why Keystones?: This is a fairly common choice of team name for Philadelphia but maybe you'll like my take. Fun fact: I only literally just now realized that I put the team nickname on the road jersey instead of the city name. Still, it's hard to get the full "Philadelphia" on a coherent-looking uniform, so I'll keep it.

Colors: red #c83737, #792121







WASHINGTON GRAYS
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Why Grays?: In honor of the Negro League team of the same name (though they were more famously known as the Homestead Grays for most of their existence). This name was a finalist (alongside Nationals and Senators) when the Expos moved to town.

Colors: gray #a7a7b7, #5a5a70, #0f0f12

[Ruwisc]

Replacing the AL West

DALLAS TITANS
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Why Titans?: The Magnolia pegasus is one of the few things that is quintessentially Dallas, and it makes such cool imagery as a team logo. "Titans" was actually originally a placeholder name for me, but since it does make a solid nickname and both it and the pegasus have allusions to Greek mythology, I have really grown to like it.

Colors: navy #060964, red #f0154a







HOUSTON HURRICANES
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Why Hurricanes?: This one sort of explains itself, I think. The Canes resisted all my attempts to come up with a more traditional primary logo, so we let the H-with-hurricane-flags stand pretty much on its own instead. Just as with the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, those flags lend the team their colors of black and red.

Colors: black #101010, red #d40000







LOS ANGELES PALMS OF ANAHEIM
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Why Palms?: Nothing is more LA than a palm. Neither the yellow nor the pink looked quite right on their own as secondary colors, but this concept was begging for a gradient anyway.

Colors: green #104c1a, yellow #fbf8cb, pink #fbcbfb







OAKLAND ACORNS
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Why Acorns?: At first glance, you might think I'd be reviving the old PCL Oakland Oaks name, but I went with Acorns - mainly because I want this team to coexist with the Hartford Oaks team from my other thread although I believe this name works just as well.

Colors: brown #4c3b19, tan #a68d5b, #dec799







SEATTLE PILOTS
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Why Pilots?: I like the real-life Seattle Pilots imagery a lot, but there was a bit of a hodge-podge element to it so it was fun trying to come up with something at least a little more coherent. (The primary logo has the team's wordmark above the winged wheel in white, hard to see here but prominent in-game)

Colors: navy #04266d, gold #fad151

[Ruwisc]

Replacing the NL Central

CHICAGO BLUES
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Why Blues?: As a native of St. Louis it pains me to use this name in Chicago but it fits their city as well, with the legacy of Muddy Waters, Chess Records and the like. Like I said with the Blazers, this team could easily replace the White Sox rather than the Cubs but I personally arrange it this way.

Colors: navy #091836, sky #90c7eb







CINCINNATI CENTURIONS
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Why Centurions?: Had a tough time coming up with an all-new Cincinnati concept - this was the last one of the whole series to be conceived of. But it draws on associations between the city and Rome - the city is indirectly named for the statesman Cincinnatus, and it is also said to have been built upon seven hills, provides a nice alliteration, and the arrangement of the classic helmet plumage into the letter C is a natural fit.

Colors: red #842323, gold #bfa040, dark gray #232323







MILWAUKEE COOPERS
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Why Coopers?: It's like "Brewers", but not - as you may know, a cooper is a barrelmaker or caskmaker. Plays on Milwaukee's history with beer and sounds old-timey.

Colors: blue #325cdc, brown #503c1d, dark gray #262626







PITTSBURGH BARONS
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Why Barons?: Pittsburgh produced (or was home to) a lot of the leading figures of the industrial revolution, like Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick and Charles Schwab, all of whom have been referred to as "robber barons". I figure in the tradition of the Pirates, this is another team that took its name from pride in being underhanded.

Colors: black #101010, gold #fdb827







ST. LOUIS SPIRITS
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Why Spirits?: Borrowing the spirit of a name, and burnt orange, from the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis (now more famous for their business acumen than for anything that happened on the court), this team is named for Charles Lindbergh's plane. Since "Spirits of St. Louis" doesn't really work with the way OOTP formats names, it's twisted around here.

Colors: orange #b25227, dark brown #2f2622, silver #e5e5e5

[Ruwisc]

Replacing the AL East

BALTIMORE CRABS
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Why Crabs?: Maryland's history of crab production means this isn't a stretch at all. Most of the crabs produced in the area are actually blue crabs, and this concept started out with a lot of blue, but red and orange was where I landed.

Colors: red #8f011a, orange #ee9b00







BOSTON MINUTEMEN
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Why Minutemen?: I have always liked Minutemen as a name for Boston clubs - it works so naturally for that town that I can't believe it's not the name of a major sports team somewhere. Apologies to the National Guard for cribbing the statue from their logo but it works extremely well in this context. The gun has been transformed into a baseball bat, though at this level of detail it's not obvious.

Colors: navy #000033, red #c11313







NEW YORK HIGHLANDERS
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Why Highlanders?: There is not that much deviation from the Yankees here, so much so that we are still using their original New York name. (Perhaps they'd still be called the Highlanders if they had been able to stay at Hilltop Park another couple of decades.) Anyway, this team is a bit more whimsical than the Yanks, with some imagery inspired by the Highlander film franchise.

Colors: navy #0c2340, white #ffffff, red #ec4141







TAMPA GROVERS
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Why Grovers?: I find "Tampa Oranges" or "Tampa Citrus" to be kinda tacky, and Grovers references the same citrus history but has the right kind of old-time feel in my ears. Also, this team is Tampa, not Tampa Bay, because I periodically like to remind people that Tampa is a city and Tampa Bay is a body of water. Not much of a primary logo here, in case you find the name Grovers super tacky - the orange T holds up as a primary IMO.

Colors: orange #f99608, green #005407







TORONTO HUSKIES
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Why Huskies?: The name "Toronto Huskies" is most associated with basketball, the name of a founding team in the league that would later become the NBA. This is the team with the least amount of actual "stuff" in terms of number of logos/files, but that's because the primary logo does double duty. As a big primary logo it's the dog that gives the team its name, but at small size it resembles a T and H crossed! I will probably continue to tweak this logo over time, as it's been rather finicky getting him to look right, but at the moment I am happy with how he looks.

Colors: purple #492466, #2d16e3, #72518b

[Ruwisc]

Replacing the NL West

DENVER ZEPHYRS
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Why Zephyrs?: This was the name of the Denver AAA team from 1984-92, during which time they were affiliated with the White Sox, Reds and Brewers. That Zephyrs team wore green and a darker blue but I adore this purple and sky combo. The wisps on the letter Z recall the west wind, which is where the Greek word zephyr comes from.

Colors: sky blue #88c8e2, purple #3b0067







LOS ANGELES SABERS
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Why Sabers?: Not Sabres, Sabers! We're not talking swords, but saber-toothed cats, which have been found preserved at La Brea. (For both words, sabre vs. saber is a variant spelling, but the cats most commonly have the -er ending.) Between the two Los Angeles teams in this series I imagine this one to be the Dodgers - Dodger Stadium is only about ten miles from La Brea, while Anaheim is much further - but the choice is up to you.

Colors: blue #2c80cf, red #a02020







PHOENIX JAVELINAS
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Why Javelinas?: Originally this was the Phoenix Flames, but I never did any logo work for that name and had an idea to create a pastiche of the Orioles' cartoon bird. So Javi Javelina is born! Javelinas (also known as peccaries) are more common in Central and South America, but their habitat extends up to include much of Mexico, Arizona and the far southern reaches of Texas. If you still don't know what I'm talking about, then it suffices to say that a javelina is an animal kind of like a pig. This is a Spanish word, so make sure you don't pronounce it like "javelin".

Colors: maroon #660033, tan #c6b79f, brown #8d6c51







SAN DIEGO SAILS
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Why Sails?: One of a couple of names I have borrowed from the ABA, the Sails were the final incarnation of the team most consistently called the San Diego Conquistadors. IMO this name works better for baseball than for basketball - Sails has the kind of laid-back vibe that baseball teams' names should have in general.

Colors: teal #347973, #8ecfc9, #e7f0ef







SAN FRANCISCO SEALS
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Why Seals?: Seals is a name with a huge amount of tradition in San Francisco, being the name of the PCL's most successful historic franchise. The Seals won 14 PCL championships and produced a handful of Hall of Famers, including Joe DiMaggio and Paul Waner. My only moment of hesitation comes from having teams called the Sails and Seals in the same division, but that's something I don't personally mind.

Colors: navy #073370, orange #f36e08, #f7a364

[pgjocki]

These are great, thanks for sharing.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Scottiedog43]

Nice work Ruwisc
Thank you for sharing

[edog23]

Those are great! Thanks for sharing that set.

Erik

[mettrain]

Fantastic! I love all the designs - especially the SF Seals!

[kjb023]

Dang dude thanks for these, they're all fantastic!

[Scott Vibert]

Fun!

[nebben]

Well done!

[cephasjames]

Thanks for sharing your creation! Very well thought out and put together.

[teeray01]

You have some good stuff here. My favorites have to be Milwaukee, Baltimore and Cincinnati. Great job! Do you have wordmarks from Louisville from the previous series?

[Scottiedog43]

Really awesome work

[Ruwisc]

Originally Posted by teeray01

You have some good stuff here. My favorites have to be Milwaukee, Baltimore and Cincinnati. Great job! Do you have wordmarks from Louisville from the previous series?

Thanks for the reminder, I did say I was going to put up all the jersey fonts & scripts from the first series at some point & I just posted them in the other thread. In terms of ranking my own work (), Cincinnati would fall in my top 3 favorites as well, I'm really happy with that one.

And thanks everybody for the nice words. Pretty soon I think I'm going to release my setup, with all 30 of these teams and all 30 from the other thread, as a big quickstart (all the logos are done so I can finally start playing again!)

[The Game]

Some cool jerseys. Will use many of them. Thanks for making this.

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Ruwisc

Do you have an MLB team you hate so much that you'd rather they didn't even exist?

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

Originally Posted by Ruwisc

Want to switch up the vibe of an existing team - like, "we may be Tampa, but we're not the Rays"? Need a replacement for Cleveland? Or just a fresh team identity for a fictional league? I might have something for you.

Yes, and several of these teams are ideas I've used in this or that fictional league over the years with much worse logos. Thanks, since we don't have a button for that any more!